The Fallen Vampire

Before Taira could call for Yasuke to separate Kyoen's head from his body, Vermeil suddenly stepped between them to put any bloodshed to a halt.

"Guys, can you not do this right now! It's our first time being in the outside world in decades and you're already about to start a bloodbath!"

Lucia: "W-We were just looking out for you!"

Aveena: "You cannot possibly think we will allow him to talk to you like that without seeing the inside of a wooden box, do you?"

Keran: "He started it, I don't feel like we should be penalized."

Enyo: "Seconded."

Vermeil temporarily ignored the rest of the girls as she kept her attention focused on Kyoen.

"I'm sorry about all of this. We've spent a lot of time together with nothing but each other so I think it's made us all a bit… sensitive, over one another."

The spider demon continued to sneer at her much to the group's irritation, but Vermeil held up her hand to stop the rest of her family from doing anything.

"I know what it looks like. My kind have done a lot of shitty things to yours, and I'm aware that the sight of me might bring up some negative feelings.

But as you can see, I have no connection or allegiance to the Races of Light and I have severed all ties with them long ago.

My family are fallen, and they care about their people greatly. That means I care about them too, even if they do not see past my humanity.

There is nothing that I would not do to protect them, just the same as you. So I believe that means I have the right to be here at this meeting too, don't you?"

Kyoen gritted his teeth and picked his arm up from the ground and placed it back on his stump.

Tying it with silk-like string, he made it almost as good as new before turning back to his seat.

"All humans are good for are pretty words and false sentiments. When your brutality starts to show, I will be waiting."

"Dully noted. I guess I've won you over for now?"

"Not on your life…"

"Drat.."

The heavenly demon let out some grunting noises as he returned to his seat, finally seeming like he was going to stay quiet.

Vermeil smiled softly as she turned back to her husband- clearly proud of her diplomacy showcase.

However, she found him with a less than pleased look in his eye.

"What? Not going to praise me?"

"…"

"You cannot solve everything with violence, you know? These are your people and you shouldn't be fighting with them."

"…"

"I know, I know. I love you for being protective of me nonetheless. But we came here to stop bloodshed, not cause more avoidable death."

Vermeil planted a small kiss on her husband's cheek and his stone-faced demeanor cracked by just a smidge.

All of the time the two of them had spent together told her that he was going to let it go for now, but he would likely bring it up later when they were undressed.

She couldn't wait!

"A nine-tailed fox as I live and breathe… two of you to boot."

Soundlessly, Ja' Zaki appeared in front of Taira and encircled him several times within a second.

"What the hell could have happened to you in such a short time that you became an unholy hybrid such as this..? …And do you mind if I pull one of your tails?"

Bright blue flames as cold as ice sparked to life across Taira's entire body, and Ja' Zaki smartly decided to back away.

"I can see you aren't in the mood for something like that right now, so we'll just touch base again later. Matters to attend to and all that."

"Smart."

The lot of them finally sat back down at the table waiting for them and attempted to get some sort of meeting underway.

Taira felt an empty gaze on him, and knew instinctively that it was coming from Aja's direction.

Lich famously do not have emotion, as upon their death they sacrifice all chance of bliss or agony in exchange for a chance to be resurrected with near unrivaled magical knowledge and an altered body.

As such, he knew her gaze was not hostile or even lustful, so he drew the conclusion that this woman must have known him at some point in the past.

'Enyo?' He asked.

'She was one of your second mother's vassals before we went to sleep. Her inability to cultivate was tolerated only because she was a true genius who learned how to compensate for her ineptitude.'

'And yet they could not tolerate me? Laughable indeed.'

Enyo took one of Taira's hands underneath the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

'She was only a lich brought in to serve from the outside, and you were the son of the king himself. The expectations placed upon you were totally different, but they were indeed not fair.'

Taira felt as though there was no use in continuing to think about matters that didn't really hold all that much weight in his heart, and quickly shook off any lingering thoughts.

Ayame suddenly stood up, and rolled out a map onto the table.

"A brief recap for those of you who don't know, but around the time you all went into seclusion, the other heroes learned about the death of one of their own, their movements became significantly more organized and unified."

Vermeil hesitantly raised her hand a bit as she spoke. "Are... all of them currently active?"

No one else really seemed to understand just what she was asking about, but for some reason Ayame did.

"...As far as we know, the first hero and his army are still in seclusion somewhere... Whether that is good or bad for us still remains to be seen."

Nodding, Vermeil let out a sigh of relief in knowing that the worst case scenario had not happened yet.. at least for now.

Shrugging off her own relief, Ayame continued with the meeting.

"Anyway... after shrugging off my own irresponsible nature and returning to the front lines, we have managed to fend each other off and put up much more of a fair fight than before.. At least on my end."

Kyoen: "I never hid behind my soldiers to lick my wounds! Do not make it sound as if I am behind you in feats!"

Ja'Zaki: "I hide, but I have still been doing my best to squash the little buggers... difficult though they have proven to be."

Aja: "I have also not been inactive and have almost felled them on numerous occasion."

"This isn't a contest!" Ayame started to argue.

"Just so we're clear here, have any of you killed a hero in 50 years?" Aveena asked.

At her question, everyone fell silent as if they were remembering something unpleasant.

"I don't mean to touch on a sore spot, but... aren't you the most powerful fallen in the world? How is that possible?" Lucia asked, already growing a headache.

"The trickery that the humans employ is boundless!" Kyoen said with a clenched fist.

"Their might aside, even if you can temporarily gain the upper hand in a collision against them, they have a number of items to aid them in escaping death.

Talismans, special armor, rare trinkets and the like. Even if you think you have seen all of them once, they somehow always return with something new." Aja explained.

'Are they receiving these things from their gods..? I haven't gotten anything like that though..' Vermeil thought quietly.

"Just escaping with one's life intact becomes a rather significant cause for celebration... The power that they boast is quite troublesome indeed." added Ja' Zaki.

Taira and his wives thought about this, and realized that it made all too much sense.

Even against Duncan, they had seen him accomplish something truly grand at the last moment and completely decimated forces that seemed to be largely un-killable.

Though to hear that even the quasi-god dark elf was having difficulty with them was not surprising, but it was alarming.

"Did you grab us because you were tired of the stalemate?" Keran asked.

"No..." Ayame grimaced. "Recently, the heroes are boasting a new and very terrible power... we don't know what it is but they all seem to share it or at least be capable of transferring it."

"What sort of power?"

"It is... like rot. Entire cities of fallen have just shriveled up, and died, with only the women and the young showing signs of being taken.

They build strongholds near the areas destroyed, create monuments to themselves and they even engage in.. hunts of our people. Letting those caught run amok in the woods only to be captured again through much more... forceful means."

Taira could be seen tapping a clawed finger on the table repeatedly, showing clear signs of displeasure over what he had heard.

"What do you need from us?" Enyo asked seriously.

Ja'Zaki grumbled some unkind words under his breath and caused the curiosity of everyone else to surge.

"A little bit of espionage. We need your husband to sneak into one of the erected compounds nearby and see what information he is able to steal." Ayame informed.

"And you did not ask the elf to do this because..?" Taira finally spoke.

"... ..ep... ting... ..ught." he grumbled.

"...I'm sorry, what?"

"I said I keep getting caught, you smarmy pillock!" Ja'Zaki yelled in anger.

For an assassin, getting caught doing simple espionage is the height of disgrace.

Especially one of Ja' Zaki's level.

It was a miracle he had not already killed himself from the embarrassment.

Taira could see that the dark elf was clearly distraught over his previous failure so he left things at a smirk for now, but he was going to laugh about this loudly when he was alone later.

"What makes you think I can get in if he can't?"

"There's a sort of formation around the base, it detects unfamiliar life energy above a certain level and sets an alarm off. You are the only undead with the skillset necessary to get past the barrier. If I'm right you should have a number of ways, correct?" Ayame asked.

Ja'Zaki muttered some words in elven that roughly translated to 'fanged show-off.'

Ignoring him, Taira glanced at his wives out of the corner of his eye before coming to an immediate decision.

"Where are these strongholds you spoke of?"

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